Suitcase



Get. 23, 1923..

L47L385 H.S.B.CRWCHLEY SUITCASE Filed Feb. 9. 1921' I IN I l I Patented Get. 23, 19.23,

' ETATEd eareur tenses tries;

SUITCASE.

Application filed February 9, 1921. Serial No.1443,617.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I. HAROLD STEPHEN Bnv'rnn CRITGHLEY, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at London. England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Suitcases, of which the following is a specification.

Suit cases, dressing bags and the like are frequently stolen particularly at railway stations where such articles if left unguarded even for a few minutes are liable to be taken, a misfortune resulting in considerable loss and inconvenience to the owner. The object of the present invention is to obviate the possibility of loss of this description or at any rate to minimize it to a considerable extent by so constructing the handle of the case or bag that anattempt made by other than the rightful owner to carry the bag away would immediately invite the attention of the police or even of any ordinary member of the public and such attempt would therefore fail and result in the detection of the thief.

With the aforesaid object in view in accordance with my present invention, instead of forming the handle thereof as a permanent fixture on the bag or case, I so construct the same that it is readily detachable therefrom, the handle being provided with male members adapted to engage with female members on the bag case or the like with or without suitable locking devices, so that any person who is compelled to leave his bag, for example, in a railway carriage or on the platform or at a cloakroom or hotel merely detaches the handle and takes the same away with him, a thief attempting to steal would consequently have to carry it away under his arm or on his shoulder, or in some such awkward or conspicuous manner, inevitably drawing attention thereto, in fact the mere absence of the handle would indicate that the bag was not in the possession of its rightful owner.

In order that my invention may be more clearly understood and readily carried into effect reference will hereinafter be made to the accompanying sheet of drawings in which similar reference numerals relat to corresponding parts throughout the several figures.

Figure 1 is a view in elevation of my 1mproved handle as applied to a bag, su1t case or the like.

Figure 2 is a plan of Figure 1.

'many alternative forms of construction of as the male and female members or fittings which may be adopted.

As shewn in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawina', in accordance with the invention I provide the handle a with a fitting b on each end thereof, which fittings are hereinafter termed for the sake of convenience the handle keys" and which are so constructed that they readily engage in the correspondingly shaped slots 0 in the rectangular or other suitably shaped members or fittings rZ provided on the bag, which members d are hereinafter referred to as the handle locks, the slots 0 being so disposed that their open ends face the extremities of the bag as shewn.

The manner of engagement of a key 6 in its particular lock (Z will be readily understood from the example illustrated in Fig ures 3 and 1 wherein the key 6, provided with a perforated lug e to allow of the usual attachment to the handle a, is formed of the shape shewn in order to engage in the correspondingly shaped slot 0 in the look (i. The slot 0 however may be of any convenient shape in cross section which is appropriate for the purpose in view and in Fig ures 5 and 6 I have shewn two other examples of construction of a key I; and its corresponding lock cl it being obvious that the slots 0 of the said locks may be circular, rectangular, dovetailed or any other appropriate shape in cross section so as to accommodate the correspondingly shaped keys I) of the handle a. The keys b and the locks cl should be so constructed that the handle of one bag cannot be attached to any other bag than the one to which it rightfully lbelongs and moreover the keys I) at each end of the handle a should also be dissimilar thus obviating the possibility of any one attaching or attempting to attach other than the right handle to the bag.

As a'precautionary measure to avoid the inconvenience which would be caused if the owner loses the handle, a spare one should be provided ,.Which couldeasily be carried in a suitable pocket provided therefor in the bag or case, which Would naturally be locked when left unattended.

Swing to the fact that the open ends of the slots 0 face the ends of the bag the Weight of the same will tend to keep the keys I) and locks 61 in engagement but in order to obviate the possibility of the keys 7) slipping out of the slots cin'the locks d suitable locking devices may be provided such as the one sheWn in Figures 3 and 4 by Way. of example, wherein f represents downwardly spring-urged catch pivotally mounted in the key I) and provided With a tooth g at one .end thereof Which in the locked position engages in a notch or recess in the lock cl and retains the same in position therein. When it is desired to detach the handle a from the bag or case it is ierely necessary to depress the stud h at I the other end of the catch whereby the tooth g is disengaged and the key 6 may be readily Withdrawn.

X Vhat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is The combination With a suit case and a detachable handle therefor, of lock fittings mounted on the suit case frame, keys fittings secured to the ends of the handle, said lock fitting having slots for the reception of said key fittings, and locking devices mounted in and carried by the key fittings, for detachably engaging said lock fittings, to

secure or release the handle.

name to this specification.

HARULD STEPHEN BLYTHE CRHTCHLEL'. 

